Kalvin Phillips reveals the quartet of Leeds United teammates who helped him overcome self-doubt

The Wortley-born player has enjoyed a meteoric rise since the introduction of former Whites boss Marcelo Bielsa in 2018 transformed him from a talented academy graduate into the bedrock of the Leeds team.

In his reformed role as defensive midfielder, the Whites talisman's no-nonsense tackling and razor-sharp passing has earned him plaudits from across the footballing world and a prominent place in the thoughts of England boss Gareth Southgate.

In the last two years, Phillips played a central role in the long-awaited promotion of his boyhood club to the Premier League and helped the Three Lions reach the EURO 2020 final.

But the success, praise, and glory hasn't come without self-doubt. Over the years of going from strength to strength in his playing career, Phillips revealed there have been moments where he felt he couldn't achieve what he wanted.

"There's been loads of times where I've felt like that," Phillips said.

"Whenever you make a mistake there's always things that come into your head where you think, 'am I good enough to be playing in this position, good enough to play in this team, good enough to be starting?

"It comes down to being confident in yourself and how you work, being confident in the team that's around you to believe in you and trust that you're doing the right things."

Phillips explained how senior players helped him to deal with challenging moments.

"I've always had the so-called leaders in the team - like Coops, Stuey, Luke, Adam - they've always been very helpful, helped me through certain situations where I've thought I might not play, or I need to play more," Phillips told the Leeds United podcast.

"It's always been the fact that we're very close and we always get along.

"Whenever I do anything wrong, I've got the people above me and the leaders that tell me it's not right and tell me how I can be a better player."

Alongside the advice of others, grit and determination have been essential ingredients to his development as a player.

"There's times where you've got to do it by yourself as well," Phillips said.

"You know when you've not played well, you know when you need to get better at certain things and you've got to work extra hard to make that happen."

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